20 Most Brilliant Car Cleaning Hacks

You spend a lot of time in your car and it can get pretty dirty, especially if you commute to and from work. After working so hard to get you places you should pamper your car and make sure it’s clean and shiny. Here are 20 car cleaning tricks that should help you make your car cleaner than ever.

34 Comments

All about cleaning your car ,the second biggest investment in life? I detail vehicles, heavy trucks-semi 18 wheelers & heavy equipment! My point is don’t be afraid to get dirty,go 2 steps further, next cleaning aprox. 2 mnths ,what took you 9hrs,will take you 2 hrs ?? Scotchguard???? Armor All is the worst that you can use ,all meguiars products ,use applicators third time maybe an hour or so ! Cars happy your happy, and it’s CLEAN

I have 30 years experience detailing vehicles and I agree armor all and any products like armor all are the worst!not only does it trap whatever dirt that May be in cracks etc it also will cause leather or vinyl to crack in extreme heat or cold.the best thing to use in cleaning a vehicle is one part vinegar and three parts water in a spray bottle on everything from Windows to leather vinyl and carpet

For any of the little thin crevices around the door/window buttons, arm rests, stick shift etc. I use round toothpicks to scrape the grunge out. For larger crevices, wet the end so it frays a bit. Works great!

How does one clean seat belts!! I have a 2006 jeep with tan belts that must have been on the oil fields, coal mine files etc., tried all types of degreasers etc. but no luck. Thinking of using an upholstery paint to change color to dark charcoal or black. Before I do that does anyone have a suggestion or remedy for cleaning seat belts. Much appreciated
Thank You, Orvis

Try plain, clear, no suds, undiluted ammonia on a rough cotton towel. Use multiple towels to avoid redepositting dirt onto the belt fabric. The strong smell disappears as the ammonia evaporates. Do not use in a closed vehicle. Leave the doors open for adequate ventilation.

Thank you again for the ammonia tip. I tried it but what I found worked the best was vinegar with a few drops of Dawn soap. I sprayed it on and scrubbed it onto the belt. I left it react with the belt as I went to the othe side of the vehicle and sprayed and scrubbed that belt. I went back to the first belt and used a power washer and it worked great.

Did all four seat belts and will return the upholstery paint spice they look great ( not new but livable).

when my daughter took purple permanent marker to the ceiling liner in my car I freaked out. I had a friend tell me to use mean green and I wouldn’t regret it. I thought he was full of it and that I might as well get used to it. About 3 months later I decided I might as well try it. I didn’t even have to scrub. I sprayed it and wiped it with a wet cloth. maybe a couple times in a few spots. My liner looked brand-new when I was done and I didnt have to put much effort into it at all

Can someone please tell me what I need to use for cloth seats in my car. A 12 pk of cokes leaked on the back seat of my car and I can’t seem to get the stain out of the seat. I was told to use a carpet cleaner to get the stain out and it didn’t work. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Acetone (or unscented nail polish remover).
Wear the thick old fashioned dish washing gloves. Use a little bit at a time because it evaporates quickly (smells really bad too!). I use an old t-shirt or sock rag. Hold on top of the acetone and flip it upside down then right side up to get a little bit of acetone on your rag. Rub on stains and they instantly disappear! I got this tip from the service manager at a car dealership when the mechanic got grease on my silver gray cloth seats. I have instantly removed rust and even heavy grease from my cloth seats! Do a test at the bottom of the seat just to make sure the acetone won’t harm your seat fabric but I have never had a problem with any of my vehicles. Careful though. You will find once you remove the stain you will have a super clean spot and may have to clean the whole seat to match the clean spot?! LOL (acetone is ONLY for cloth seats)
Works great on the plastic interior of your car to!

That one is tricky! I would first air it out for as long as you can. So leave the windows down even just an inch or two when you can, it’s going to help circulate some air in there and help clean it out. I would replace both air filters, and also look into having the car detailed. I know it can be expensive, but they can achieve a deeper clean than you can when it comes to your car. Best of luck!

My ex-sil nearly destroyed my brother’s SUV it was so filthy and smoke filled when we got it back. I pulled every piece of carpet I could and scrubbed in the tub by hand with rug cleaner like for a carpet cleaner. I might even have used some Dawn at one point for the oily stains. It took about 4 tries before the water was no longer black with dirt and cigarette tar. While those dried I took a vacuum and carpet stain remover to the remaining carpet and any other upholstered surface I hadn’t been able to remove. The staining was so bad I didn’t worry about testing because I needed to cover almost every piece of it. The next step was to wipe every hard surface – glass, dash, console, etc. – and ran loose items like the rubber console cup liners through the dish washer. The goal of doing all that first was of course to get at the dirt and grime, but also to eliminate any surface smoking residue. I used straight vinegar. All this time the doors had been open to air out (and so I could breathe) except for overnight when I locked up for security. Each night, I placed several boxes of baking soda in shallow dishes through out the car and closed the windows. I probably could have reused it, but it was so bad I used new each night.
This all took days because of drying time, but once the interior upholstery was totally dry I sprinkled fresh baking soda on all the carpets and fabric surfaces and let that sit overnight followed by a thorough vacuuming the next morning. I couldn’t get the burn marks out, but by this point the smell was much improved and it was CLEAN! Since there was still a little remaining smell when closed up I punched some holes in the lid of a plastic container and filled it with more baking soda. He kept this in the car for a couple weeks.
All told I spent about $100 (mostly vacuuming costs at the car wash), but he was able to get a good trade-in return a couple years later.

Used smokers care – try leaving a cup of 50-50 vinegar & water in the cup holder each night for a few days with the windows open a crack (if possible). Odour will be strong but vinegar is a great to help diminish the odour after a good car cleaning. Good luck!

Unfortunately when it comes to deep stains/smells you might have to take it to a professional cleaner. Good luck though, I had something similar happen once with my sister’s chocolate milk. The smell is terrible.

Does anybody have ideas on how to get off and prevent the film/foggyness on the inside of the windshield. Ive had this issue before and now it happened again on my way home this evening when I rubbed it with my finger it came off but left smudges. It isn’t dirt because my finger was clean. Already tried wiping it/ cleaning it with cleaner but it keeps happening and smudging worse than before. HELP PLEASE!

You will NEVER get rid of that fogging, well at lease for the first few years after tne car’s manufacture. The reason being, is that there is SO much plastic used in auto interiors, and the better grade suppliers use a chemical in the formula to keep the plastic supple.
The generic term for these ingredients is known as “Platicizers”. After a while, these nice little additives begin to exude or migrate to the surface of the molded parts. Once on the surface of parts like the dashboard, windshield frames, mirror housings, vent grills, etc., with the help of the sun’s heat (winter included), these plasticizers begin to evaporate and leave their residue all over your nice c.ean glass. The ONLY thing you can do, is to keep up with it by washing as instructed above with either an amonia or vinegar (acedic acid) diluted solution.